


The Possession

by detectivetinsley



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Horror, I archived it as graphic because I don't know how bad this is going to get, I'll change it in the future if I need to, M/M, Possessed Shane Madej, Protective Shane Madej, Things kinda get dark and fast I'm sorry, Things you do for love, This is definitely the creepiest of the fics I've written, You know just Shane things, everybody loves a good plot twist, so it's best to keep it safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-05-25 09:00:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14973716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivetinsley/pseuds/detectivetinsley
Summary: Demons aren't supposed to exist and Shane knows that and yet the Clayborn Mansion gives him a run for his money. What the Ghost Hunters thought was just a normal ghost investigation, turns out to be something much more sinister. The thing in the house likes Shane and all Shane wants is for Ryan to be safe. What would you do for the one person you never thought of ever losing? Would you give yourself up to a demon?For Ryan? Shane would. Without question.





	1. The Haunting of Clayborn Mansion

Ryan did it. He finally proved that demons were real.

Shane didn’t want to admit that he was scared. He couldn’t admit that, especially not on camera when thousands and millions of viewers would see him crumble. He had to be brave, but Jesus fucking Christ, he was terrified. They went on an investigation, like any other time, to a small town “haunted” house (it was a fucking mansion, but that's besides the point). It was said to have been built on ancient Native American burial grounds and that really should have been a warning to Shane. In fact, it should have warned him from the very beginning, the moment Ryan opened his mouth to explain away the location they were going to.

When they reached the mansion and the scorch house that resides nearby, Shane could already feel a heaviness being built around them. He felt uncomfortable, suddenly exhausted as if he’d run a mile or two. Ryan was looking far worse and that’s what kept him going. He had to keep going for Ryan. 

“Are you sure you wanna do this, Ry?” Shane asked, falling into step next to his best friend. There are beads of sweat forming on Ryan’s forehead and he looks as though he were about to pass out at any given moment.

His stubbornness never fails to impress Shane.

“It’s fine. I’m just a little light headed. Come on.” 

And onward they went.

Shane felt his chest clench with dread.

There was definitely something wrong with the house and as Ryan began to talk about some of the basic history, like when it had been built, and it supposedly being built on burial grounds, it all started to make sense.

“The house was built in the early 19th Century and has had a violent history, starting off with the slaughter of an entire slave family.” 

Shane felt a shiver run down his spine.

“It was said that the slave owner had found out that his daughter was sleeping with one of the slaves and had them all executed in their home, in their sleep. There were no survivors.”

 _Shane_ …

Shane stopped, eyes squinted, but he shrugged it off as the wind --- he was most likely hearing things due to the horror of the story, he figured. Ryan continued on with the story and explained why the slave house was named the Scorched Ruins. Apparently, in the mid 1900’s, a couple had moved into the house on the hill, the one where the slave owners had lived, and had walked out one night to find the former slave house in flames. Much to their surprise, the house didn’t burn down and they caught the culprit – a young thirteen year old boy had claimed he’d been “possessed” by this “feeling” and had fallen into a trance before setting the house ablaze. He was lucky to have made it out of the house and lived to tell the tale.

They left the house after they finished talking about some of the basic history about the slave family and headed out into town to meet that very same boy, named Alfred Higgins. 

The whole way there, Shane felt anxious.

He’s never felt anxious like this before and it was extremely unsettling. His left leg shook with this rare anxiety and it was so vicious that it made Ryan and TJ glance at him more than once.

Ryan even asked, “you alright, Shane?” and all Shane could do was nod and go _‘mmhmm’_ because what else could he do? He had no idea why he was anxious! He hated not knowing.

Alfred Higgins was an older man now. His gray hair was thin and looked as though he were going bald. He’d been thirteen years old in 1965 – it was 2018, so that made him...over 60 years of age and he looked way older than he actually was. Time did not do him well. 

As soon as he saw Shane, his lips fell into a thin line and he grasped his hand into his. His hand was cold, clammy, and the way he looked into Shane’s eyes… it felt like he could see straight into his soul.

“You better be careful,” he rasped.

TJ and Ryan were stood beside Shane at this moment, the camera zoning in on the meeting. 

Shane felt a cold shiver of dread run down his spine, but Alfred wasn’t finished speaking.

“It _likes_ you.”

And, _oh god_ , even not believing in ghosts and demons, this sure as hell scared the _living fuck_ out of Shane Madej. The elderly man dropped his hand and turned to greet Ryan and TJ – Ryan was watching Shane curiously, as if to ask _‘what the hell was that?’_ and all Shane could do was shake his head.

The interview with Alfred Higgins would fly by with no other weird occurrences and Shane was finally able to relax. It wasn’t until they packed up their things to go, did Alfred pull Shane aside once more. This was starting to _really_ creep him out.

“Shane, my boy, you really should take your friends and go home.”

Shane blinked and frowned. “We can’t just "go home",” he said, emphasizing with air quotes. “This is our _job_.”

Alfred frowned back at him. “There’s a price to pay for going into that house, Shane. Don’t be surprised when you have to pay it.”

That’s the last thing he says to Shane as he turns and walks away, leaving Shane feeling colder and colder by the minute.

Ryan comes up to him a few moments later, touches his arm and makes Shane jump. Ryan looks at him strangely but doesn’t comment. “Ready to go, big guy? We have an investigation at hand.” There’s a tease in his words and Shane allows it to calm him down before nodding his head.

“Yeah… ready as I’ll ever be.”

The investigation starts as normal as it could possibly go. He let Alfred’s words follow him into the house, unable to shake the feeling that something very bad was going to happen. He would be right, of course, but he didn’t know that then. In fact, had he known that something bad was actually going to happen, he would have taken Ryan and TJ and got the fuck out of there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Shane is a skeptic and as a skeptic… they don’t believe in demons and ghosts, and they definitely don’t believe in creepy old men telling him to run.

He should have believed him though --- he should have listened. 

The mansion was cold. It was colder than most locations they’ve visited, even in the dead of winter. Immediately, Shane felt dread curl in his stomach, but he did his best to squash it and keep up his brave face. Ryan kept giving him odd looks that he chose to ignore – he didn’t have the time or energy to get into it with him right then.

“Okay, Ryan, tell us more about this place.” Shane said after a few moments of scanning the area with a frown on his lips. He took a look at Ryan and the smaller man gave him a grimace that slowly turned into a smile. He was looking bad again – they all were, Shane realized, but Ryan definitely looked worse. He was pale and his eyes were starting to look sunk in. Or… maybe it was a trick of the light… Shane was probably just imaging things. It’s fine, _Ryan is fine_. 

“Right, okay.” Ryan cleared his throat and almost immediately the color returned to his face. Shane let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “So, right now, we’re in the slave owner’s house. His name was Timothy Clayborn and he was one of the very last people in the country to have slaves. He was wealthy, as you can clearly see; the house is a fucking mansion.” 

Shane snorts, but it’s forced – he’s going to have to force a lot of things during this investigation. 

“Anyway, good ol’ Timothy was an asshole and he hated that slavery was ending. He didn’t think that was fair. A real dick bag.”

Shane snorts again, forcing out a wheeze. “A real dick bag indeed. If you believe slavery is okay, you truly are a fucking douche.” 

Ryan quirks up a smile at that. 

“He was especially bitter when his wife, Lucy, died. The reasons behind her death are unknown, but many speculate it was murder.” Shane nodded his head and suddenly he could feel that same dread return and he had to suppress a shiver. This was going to be a long fucking night. “His daughter, Rebecca, was five when her mother had passed, and had reportedly seen her spirit many times, talking to her and guiding her through life, and being a continuous presence in her life, even through death. Now, if you remember, I had mentioned earlier that Rebecca had supposedly been having an affair with one of the slaves. She was fifteen and according to reports, she fell in love with an unnamed slave that lived in the house. After the death of him and his family, Rebecca reportedly ended her own life and her father would remain to live in the house until the end of his own life, in which he would die in bed. Completely alone.”

Shane allows a triumphant snort to follow after. “Good. Fucking sick bastard.”

Ryan hummed in agreement.

However, as soon as Shane had spoken, he heard the voice again.

 _Shane_ … it said and made the tall man shiver. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this one bit.

“So, I’m assuming the whole family supposedly haunts the house?” Shane questions, trying to disarm his growing fear of this place.

Ryan nods. “There have been reports where people have seen Timothy in the living room and his bedroom.” They walked into the living room as Ryan spoke. “And his wife usually is seen on the porch outside or in the kitchen. The porch was supposedly her favorite place to be.” 

Ryan continued to go off, but had since then lost Shane somewhere during the talk. His eyes wondered the house and stopped when he could have sworn he saw a dark figure lurking near Ryan. As if on cue, Ryan shivered and looked behind himself, but apparently, Ryan could see nothing.

 _Jesus fucking Christ_ , Shane thought. _What the fuck is going on?_ Shane was supposed to be the skeptic and it apparently wasn’t working out so well. What the actual fuck?

They began their official investigation and began to call out for the spirits. As they were still in the living room, they decided to call out for Timothy Clayborn first. 

Shane had to act like the big ol’ skeptic he was supposed to be and had to pretend like the dark figure behind Ryan hadn't returned, looming behind him with beady red eyes.

Ryan couldn’t see it, he realized fairly quickly, because it wasn’t _showing_ itself to Ryan. It was showing itself to Shane.

Its red gleaming eyes were sinister and just about the only thing Shane could see as far as facial expression and it fucking terrified him. This defied all logic and he fucking hated it. He hated being wrong and this thing was proving him wrong….whatever it was.

 _I’m going to get him,_ the thing said, though there was no mouth to form those words. Shane shivered at that fact alone.

Ryan was still talking to Clayborn.

“Okay, now is the time I’m going to get out my trusty friend, the Spirit Box. So if you have anything you need to say, now is the time.” Ryan noticed Shane staring off behind him and chanced a look, but saw nothing. He pulled out the Spirit Box before asking, “Are you okay, Shane? You’re kind of zoning out. I know you hate this thing, but you’re just going to have to get used to it.”

Shane rolls his eyes, forcing himself to look in Ryan’s direction. “I’m so overjoyed,” he deadpanned, causing Ryan to crack a smile.

 _His soul is mine_ …

There was a reason why none of the spirits showed themselves, Shane realized, assuming that spirits were, in fact, real. They were probably fucking horrified of the thing there and wanted to stay as far away from it as possible. Ryan wasn't going to get any answers from them.

Shane shook his head and watched as Ryan started up the Spirit Box. 

The whirring sound came through and just in time to hear one of the most sinister things Shane had ever heard.

_”You’re…never….going….to….leave….”_

Ryan’s eyes widened in surprise, fear instantly reflecting there and all Shane wanted to do was protect him. 

“Why not?” Ryan asked, his voice shaking.

Shane hated this. He hated this _so much_.

_“You’re….mine…”_

Shane hated seeing Ryan like this, he truly did. So, he did the only thing he could.

“Please!” Shane called out, eyes locking with the red eyed spirit; a challenge. “What are you going to do? _Ghost us_.” 

This does what he was aiming for; Ryan cracks a smile and Shane feels momentarily relieved.

Until anger flashes in the red eyed spirit’s eyes and: _“Shane…”_

It was so clear and Shane could hear it even without the Spirit Box.

Ryan looked petrified, looking up at Shane. “It said your name!”

Shane shrugged and puts his eyes back on Ryan as he chose to ignore the spirit for Ryan’s sake. He could feel the anger in the room and it was obvious that Ryan could too --- he was beginning to go pale again and even TJ began to complain about a stomach ache.

This wasn’t good.

 _“You… can’t….stop… me, Shane…”_ The Spirit Box rang out and Shane shot his head up just in time to see the spirit hurdling towards Ryan.

“NO!”


	2. Missing

The spirit crashes into Ryan’s body before Shane even has a chance to react.

TJ, clearly having no clue what was going on, complains about the camera shortening out. 

Shane doesn’t care. This fucking thing is _inside_ of _Ryan_.

As if on cue, Ryan’s eyes flicker from their dashing brown color to a deep red and a laughter that is too demented to be Ryan’s comes from his lips.

 _“I told you his soul is mine, Shane!”_ The thing says using Ryan’s vocals like an asshole. _”You should have listened to the old man!”_ Laughter that shouldn’t belong to him comes again and Shane feels like he’s going to be sick.

He can feel tears pricking at the corners of his eyes and _Jesus Christ_ , he seriously is about to cry? This is some underrated bullshit. He wipes at his eyes quickly and points a shaking finger at him. “Give him back.” His voice shakes.

The Spirit Box crackles and suddenly he can hear other voices coming from it.

_“Run!”_

_“Get…Out!”_

_“Let…him…go!”_

Shane had never felt more relieved by the Spirit Box before in his entire life. The spirits of the Mansion were clearly on his side.

The dark spirit didn’t like that and using Ryan’s body, he grips the machine into his hands and smashes it. Ryan’s fingers bleed from the force and it makes Shane realize just what was at stake.

 _It’s going to kill Ryan_. He’s never been more terrified of anything until that moment. He couldn’t lose Ryan. Ryan was his best friend. He was everything to Shane.   
“W-what can I do?” His voice shakes and Ryan --- no, the _spirit, the demon_ \---- looked at him, intrigued.

“Hmmmm, to save his life, you mean?” The Thing hums, sounding bored. This enraged Shane, but he couldn’t find it in him to speak. He nods his head. “Well, you could always…trade your soul for his.”

Shane’s stomach fills with dread once again and _the Thing_ is laughing at him, thinking Shane is going to be too much of a coward to take it up on his offer.

Well, it was wrong.

Shane would do anything for Ryan; even this.

“Okay,” he says, his voice sounding confident and he wipes at his eyes again. His whole body is shaking and the Thing even has the nerve to look shocked.

“Really?” It says.

Shane nods. “Get the fuck out of him and take me instead.”

It shrugs Ryan’s shoulders and quickly departs from Ryan’s body and all Shane could do is watch Ryan collapse to the ground in a crumble. All he wanted to do was pick him up and hold him in his arms, but there was no time, because suddenly, the black figure was hurdling towards his body and entering him instead, becoming a part of him.

Shane fought hard and lasted just long enough for one last goodbye from Ryan.

Ryan’s eyes opened and he gaped at Shane. “What did you do!?” He screamed and Shane just smiled; a sad kind of smile.

He mustered up all the strength he could to lean down and press his hand against his cheek, caressing it gently before letting his hand fall. He was beginning to lose the fight. “Saving your ass,” he whispered and that was all he got out before the Thing – _the demon_ – took complete control.

Shane Madej was gone and the demon shoved Ryan back down with a smirk.

“Your boyfriend here is an idiot,” it says. “Sacrificing himself for you? Pitiful. I’ve seen it before. It’s so cliché. Have fun, darling!” And with that, Shane and the demon would disappear into a cloud of smoke, not to be seen by anyone for months to come – not even his family would hear from Shane Madej; it would seem like he disappeared off the face of the planet.

After returning to Buzzfeed after the investigation, Ryan and TJ kept quiet about the whereabouts of Shane Madej. “He took another car,” they would tell everyone and it was expected that he would return soon enough.

He would not return.

He would not call into work and after three days of nothing, his apartment was searched by Ryan and his brother. Nothing came of it. Shane hadn’t been home, though Ryan was unsurprised by this, yet highly hopeful.

On the fourth day, Ryan would file for Missing Persons and that’s when everyone in the nation would know that Shane Madej was missing.

Ryan logged into Twitter to share the announcement: _“I regret to inform you…”_ he wrote and cried while writing it. A few days later, he informed Twitter once again of something else. He cried again while writing it.

_“For everyone asking what’s going to happen to the show… until Shane’s return, this will be the last season of Unsolved. There will be no post mortems. I’m sorry. I can’t do this without my partner in crime.”_

Ryan would go to Shane’s Twitter account and stare his last tweet for a long moment. He hadn’t been logged into the account in six days. Six days ago, Shane shared his Instagram photo on his Twitter account – a selfie of him and Ryan with the caption “#ghouligans4lyfe”. Ryan may or may not have cried again.

He deleted both apps off his phone and would return to work with a fake sense of happiness, as much as he could muster. Until Shane would be found, faking it was the only thing he could do.

**Six Months Later**

It’s been six months since the possession and Shane finds himself awakening in the dark corridors of Clayborn Mansion, completely alone. _It’s weird_. There are holes in his memory, but he can remember very clearly that he’d allowed a demon to possess him in order to save Ryan’s life.

He’d do anything to keep Ryan safe, that much he knew.

Aside from that, his memory afterwards was kind of shifty.

He remembers trees and darkness, but that was about it.

When he closes his eyes, he can almost hear a maniacal laugh that strangely sounds like his. It was absurd and it put the skeptic in his place that was for goddamn sure.

He gathers himself to his feet and pats his pockets. In there, he finds his wallet with his ID and seven dollars in cash and his credit cards. Nothing seemed out of place, which made this whole thing evenm ore absurd. Shane makes his way around the mansion until he finds a mirror and stares at his reflection. He looks sleep deprived and maybe a little under weight, but otherwise? He looks fine. Like maybe give himself a few days and he’d be back to the Shane he knew.

The clothes were new, though.

He wore a dark gray t-shirt with a moose on it and dark jeans. His black converses were still his though and that was a relief. At least something felt familiar. 

His hair was a disaster. Even running his fingers through it did nothing to cure the mop on his head, so he did his best to leave it alone before leaving Clayborn Mansion.

Honestly, he was surprised he hadn’t set off the alarms in the house. That should have been the first warning bells ringing, but the gap in his memory and the thought of _Ryan_ was all that he could think about. It wasn’t until he opened the door to the mansion did the alarms go off and he bolted out the door as fast as he could.

The last thing he needed was to get arrested for trespassing when he couldn’t remember shit.

Once he was far enough away from the house, he felt around for his phone but it was a lost cause. The demon evidently didn’t want him to have his phone so it was probably ditched at some point. Shane had no idea what time it was, but the moon was hanging low in the sky and there were buds growing on the trees.

Warning bells rang in his ears for this one.

 _What day is it?_ He thought as dread began to envelope him. _How long have I been gone?_

The trees were bare when he and Ryan had come to investigate the house – in the middle of fall. This showed the beginning signs of spring. He looks around him for a moment, taking in the scenery and attempting not to up-chuck everything that was in his stomach.

Red and blue lights flash across the street and slow when they shine on him.

 _Oh shit_ , he thinks and turns to face the cop car. A few moments later, an officer comes out and shines her light on him. He holds up his hand to shield his eyes.

“Excuse me, sir, what are you doing out walking around this late?” 

She lowers her light and he glances around himself slowly once again. It must really be later then, he figures, if a police officer is going to pull over to stop him. Another cop car zooms past, evidently heading for the Clayborn Mansion. He really hopes the cameras aren’t working (they weren’t). 

“Uh, I wish I knew,” he replied, lowering his hand with a grimace. “I don’t remember how I got here.”

The light is back on his face and he groans.

“Have you been drinking?”

He shakes his head.

“Doing drugs?”

He shakes his head.

“What’s your name?”

Shane licks his lips and replies slowly, “Uhhh, Shane Madej.”

Something registers in the cop’s head apparently as she lowers her flashlight once again, her blue eyes wide with surprise. “Alright, Shane, I’m going to need you to come with me.”

Confused, Shane follows her obediently to the car. “What for?” He asks. 

She motions towards the front seat of the car. Oh thank god, he’s not being arrested.

“I’ll explain when we get to the police department.”

All Shane can do is comply as he climbs into the car and closes the door quietly. His long limbs are awkward in car, but he manages. He watches as the officer pulls off her radio and reports back to her office. She mentions his name.

Then, they’re off, turning and speeding down the road until they arrive at the station. Once there, he’s ushered inside and placed in an interrogation room. Moments later, the officer that had picked him up returns with another officer, a male, holding up a missing person’s poster.

The poster is slid to him and he stares at it. The poster has a photo of him on it.

He slowly looks back up at the officers and grimaces.

The female officer – her name tag reads _Officer Laura Faulkner_ \-- crosses her arms across her chest. He glances at the male -- _Officer Christopher Roberts_ \-- who has a similar posture. They’re both frowning at him.

“Can you tell us where you’ve been Mr. Madej?” Officer Faulkner asks and Shane shakes his head.

“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?” Officer Roberts asks.

He shakes his head.

“What _do_ you know?” Officer Faulkner questions, raising an eyebrow at him.

Shane frowns and considers her question very carefully. He licks his lips and responds. “I know Ryan’s going to be pissed.”


	3. Did You Think We Were Done?

Many things would take place that night. For starters, much later, Shane was questioned about the Clayborn Mansion. He told them he didn’t know anything about it and when they pulled up the footage of the mansion, it was clear that he was telling the truth – which wasn’t true, but the officers had no way of knowing that. There was absolutely no footage of Shane ever even being inside the building – or leaving for that matter. 

It should have been alarming, but Shane just shrugged it off.

“Must be a faulty system,” he told them once they cleared him. It was clear that they were still suspicious and it wasn’t like Shane could blame them – he’d been missing for six months and out of the blue, here he was, back to the town he’d originally gone missing from. It was rather suspicious when it all comes down to it.

Shane tries not to think about that.

He was informed that his emergency contact had been called at about four o’clock in the morning. He’d fallen asleep in a chair while the officers were doing paperwork. He technically could leave, but considering he was a missing persons case, he was persuaded to stay until someone came to get him, just to keep anything else from happening to him. 

( In actuality, Shane believes that they just didn’t want him on the loose, especially after doing a lie detector test and having it come out clean. They didn’t trust him and didn’t believe him when he said he didn’t remember anything – despite what the test said. )

At about nine in the morning, his emergency contact arrived and as soon as he walked through the door, Shane’s jaw dropped.

He forgot that he’d made Ryan his emergency contact. 

Shane had to give the man props though.

He held himself pretty well despite knowing what had happened to Shane. He didn’t freak out – didn’t accuse Shane of being a demon and didn’t even throw holy water at him. He just talked to the officers and got him released into his custody – or something like that, Shane kept falling asleep while they talked.

Ryan didn’t speak to him until they climbed into his car. Actually, he didn’t even say anything until they drove out of the police station. Once at the first stop sign, he turned to Shane, his eyes filled with an unreadable emotion.

“You really don’t remember anything?”

Shane sighed. Of course that would be Ryan’s first question. He repositioned himself in the seat and yawned, running his hand across his face before he spoke. “I remember being _possessed_ if that’s what you’re asking, Ryan. I just don’t remember… everything.”

Ryan flinches and Shane sighs again. _There it is_.

“What _do_ you remember, Shane?” Ryan’s voice is so small and pitiful that Shane automatically feels guilty – for what, he’s not sure.

“I remember asking it to take me, instead of you.” Though Shane knows that the demon never wanted Ryan – it just wanted Shane to admit defeat. He blinked. “If I close my eyes, I can see flashes of trees and the night sky. Sometimes I hear laughter that sounds like me, but it isn’t me. I don’t know, Ryan, it’s just…it was weird. I don’t even know when I got these clothes.” He gestured towards his body. “As far as I know, they’re brand new. I don’t even know what happened to my clothes that I wore on that night. I don’t remember a lot, Ryan, and I’m kind of scared to.”

His words hang in the air and Ryan moves the car across the street. They don’t mention it again.

“Are you hungry?” Ryan asks after a while. They were still in the small, quaint town, and all Shane wanted was to run away – as far away from that place as possible. However, he was interrupted by a loud growl from his stomach and the decision was decided for him. Ryan grins. “I guess so. Come on, let’s go eat and then I’ll take you home.”

They got breakfast from McDonalds’, because of course they did, and Shane scarfed it down as if he hadn’t eaten in months – he wonders how much of that may be true. Once they’re done eating, they hit the road, sometime after 10 AM – driving down the freeway at 70 miles per hour. 

Shane tries to stay awake to talk to Ryan, but he doesn’t know what to say and his eyes keep drooping every time he thinks of something -- _anything_ \-- to say. He falls asleep an hour into the drive and doesn’t wake up again until they pull into Ryan’s apartment building.

Once Shane stirs, it’s evident that he’s confused as he stretches his long limbs in Ryan’s tiny ass car. “Wha—” but he doesn’t get to finish his question before Ryan quietly explains.

“You were kinda evicted, Shane” More confusion pours in and he opens his mouth to say something but Ryan cuts him off again. “Sara moved away.”

 _Ah, there it is_. Shane’s stomach drops, but he can’t say he’s one hundred percent surprised. They’d been drifting apart for some time now – Shane disappearing off the face of the Earth probably just made it easier to move on.

That, of course, doesn’t make it any easier.

He clears his throat and opens the door, exiting the tiny car. Ryan stares at him for a moment longer before following suit. It’s nearly three in the afternoon when they head up to Ryan’s apartment. Ryan quietly tells him about the status of his living arrangements – his roommate finally moved in with his girlfriend and up until then, Ryan had been actively searching for a new roommate. Up until he got the call to come get Shane.

This only furthers Shane’s guilt. He slides onto the couch, looking like a child who just got scolded.

“You don’t have to let me stay, Ryan.” His voice cracks a bit when he says this and he’s avoiding Ryan’s eyes as he follows him to the couch. Ryan isn’t sitting down – he’s standing in front of Shane, just watching him. It’s clear he wants to reach out, but he hesitates and his hand falls short.

“Shane, you’re my best friend. Of course I’m going to let you stay.” He pauses, tapping his fingers against the side of his leg. “Besides, I kind of got all of your stuff – what I could – here anyways. Come on, big guy, I’ll show you your room and you can go back to bed. You look like death.”

They both flinch, but move past it as Ryan leads Shane to the guest bedroom, also known as ‘Shane’s Room’. 

Once again, Shane has to give Ryan props. Despite the fact he refuses to stand too close to Shane, he’s clearly taking this all very well.

After Ryan shows him the bedroom, Shane sits down on the bed and sighs heavily. Ryan watches him, standing in the doorway, propped up against it. He doesn’t leave as Shane takes off his shoes nor does he leave when he discards his shirt.

However, Shane does hear a small gasp escape his lips and that’s what brings his attention towards him. As soon as Shane looks, Ryan steels his face back into a quiet armor and smiles softly. Whatever he’d seen, he doesn’t say anything to Shane.

“You get some sleep, okay? We’ll talk about everything when you wake up and figure out what you want to do.” Shane nods, but doesn’t say anything.  


Ryan’s still watching him.

They’re staring at each other now, almost awkwardly, but not quite.

“It’s…” Ryan pauses, mulling over what he wants to say. That smile hasn’t left his lips. “It’s good to have you back, Shane.”

And with that, Ryan’s gone, closing the door after him.

Shane sighs, releasing a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, and pulled off the remainder of his clothes until he was in nothing but his boxers. He crawled into bed and within moments, he was fast asleep.

_A hand is wrapped around his throat._

_His eyes flash open, bulging, at the sudden aggressive feeling and gasps out loud when two beady red eyes stare back at him._

_“Did you think we were done?” The demon sneered. He was masked in shadows, all Shane could see were the red, devil eyes staring back at him – but he would know those eyes, and that voice, anywhere._

_The demon squeezes harder, taking an agonizing step closer._

_Shane gasps out loud again._

_It was like staring into a mirror._

Something is shaking him awake, calling his name. Instinctively, Shane reaches out to grab the perpetrator. When his eyes finally fly open and he is brought back to reality, the fabric of Ryan Bergara’s shirt is between his fingers. He looks up, feeling dazed and confused, seeing that expression mirrored on his best friend’s face.

Realizing he’s still holding onto his shirt, Shane let’s go and clears his throat, sitting up in the bed. He doesn’t say anything.

Ryan speaks first.

“Are…are you okay?” His voice shakes and he looks uncertain.

Absently, Shane runs a hand along his throat, not sure what he was expecting to find. He doesn’t respond.

“You were… _screaming_ , Shane. Are you okay?”

He drops his hand against the bed and finally allows his eyes to settle on Ryan’s deep brown ones. There’s an underlining fear there, in Ryan’s eyes, but there’s also sympathy and love in there, too. Shane can feel himself relax.

He sighs and finally responds. “Yeah, I’m sorry…I guess I had a nightmare.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ryan asks a few moments later, looking hesitant.

Shane shakes his head. “It’s already fading away.” _A lie_.

Ryan doesn’t look like he believes it (nor should he) but he doesn’t push. Instead, he backs up and nods his head. “I was thinking about ordering some pizza. You down?”

A smile breaks across Shane’s face and he nods. “Hell yeah I’m down!” 

He begins to crawl out of bed, only to realize he’d shed his clothes off before falling asleep and for some reason, felt awkward enough to bury himself back into the blankets. “Uh…” There’s a faint blush on his cheeks and -- _woah, okay, that’s a bit weird_ \-- he adverts his gaze quickly.

Ryan seems to put two and two together, laughing quietly. “I’ll let you get dressed while I go order. Do you want me to make some popcorn too? We can watch a movie on Netflix or something.”

Shane looks back up at Ryan at that and he can see conflict in his gaze, which Shane doesn’t blame him for. He seems uncertain at what to do – attempting to go back to normal, so it seems – as normal as they can get. Shane licks his lips and nods again. “Yeah…yeah, that’s a good idea. Sounds great.” 

He shoes Ryan out of the room and Ryan laughs before closing the door so Shane can have some sort of privacy. 

He slowly gets out of bed and opens up the closet. His heart drops when he sees the majority of his old closet staring back at him. He grabbed his favorite red and black flannel, starring at it as he thinks of what this means. Ryan really did get all of his things for Shane, but the question remained… _why?_ He didn’t know if Shane was ever going to come back. _Did he really have that much hope? Did he miss me that much?_ He shakes the thoughts from his head and pulls the flannel off the hanger.

He finds a pair of sweatpants in the dresser and slides into those with ease. He’s working on buttoning up the flannel as he heads into the bathroom to take a piss. Once he’s done, he washes his hands and looks up into the mirror.

He feels his mouth go dry.

There’s a faint redness swelling around his neck.

_Did you think we were done?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, yes, I realize this is a hell of a lot darker than I had initially intended, so you may want to hold on tight. This is gonna be a bumpy ride.


	4. Written on the Wall

The next day, Shane is asked to go to the police station. He’s tired, eyes drooping and hair a mess. Yet, he manages to pull a T-Shirt on and some jeans. He puts his “ghoul hunting” boots on, leaving his converse in the closet – he doesn’t want to associate with those anymore. 

( He ended up getting rid of the clothes he’d woken up in, not wanting anything to do with it. He, unfortunately, couldn’t find it in him to part with his shoes. ) 

Ryan saw the look of terror on his face and informed him he’d go with him.

It was heartwarming, to say at the least.

Ryan drove him to the police station and once the car was in park, Shane made no motion to move. He stared ahead, instead. He could feel Ryan’s eyes on him, but he wasn’t ready to look back. There was too much going on inside his head. After the nightmare and waking up with the redness around his throat, he suddenly found himself terrified. He didn’t say anything about it; he didn’t want to scare Ryan, so he kept it to himself and he was regretting every second of it.

“We don’t have to go, you know.”

Shane looked up at Ryan as he spoke. There was concern in his eyes; he no longer wore a look of fear, after spending the whole night watching movies with him. For that, Shane was grateful.

Pursing his lips, Shane let out a sigh, tilting his head to the side. “I know…” His voice is quiet, raspy. Neither of them slept that much. Ryan had fallen asleep on the couch and it was too small, even for him. Shane’s pretty sure he heard him fall off sometime in the night, too. “But that’ll look suspicious, won’t it?”

Ryan hummed. He agreed. “What do you want to do?” He asked, in the same quiet voice as Shane.

Shane sighed again. “They’re gonna wanna know what happened.” He paused. “So…I guess I tell them what happened.”

Shane doesn’t, of course.

When they walk into the police station, the officers just want to know the story. They weren’t looking for an arrest – not like they could exactly arrest someone who just went missing for six months. Shane simply tells them that he blacked out and woke up in a dark room and that he’d been kept there with very little food and water for six months, until he escaped. When they ask him why he said he didn’t remember anything, he shrugged and told them he’d been scared out of his mind and that it was true, he didn’t remember much of anything that happened – he just knew that he was trapped and that he was lucky to be alive.

It was scarily believable, but also not 100% inaccurate. After all, Shane had been stuck in the dark corridors of his own mind for the last six months.

They write down everything that had been said and allows it to be sent to the newspaper – with Shane’s permission, of course. The public wanted to know what happened to Shane Madej and so, they were giving a fabrication of the truth.

They wouldn’t believe him if he told them what really happened.

Back in the car, Ryan sat at the driver’s seat, looking over at Shane who stared at his fingernails.

Feeling his eyes on him, Shane lifts his head and frowns. “What?” He asks.

Ryan doesn’t respond right away, choosing his wording very carefully. “Were you…tortured?”

Shane raised a delicate eyebrow at him and sighed. He found himself pressing his hand to the base of his neck. “Umm…I don’t….I don’t know.”

Ryan sees right through him and stares at him. The look is enough to make his walls crumble.

“I – yeah, Ryan. I don’t… know _how_ because he was…the thing was using my body like a dirty whore.” Ryan flinched, but Shane continued on as if he didn’t see it. “I think he left my body every once in a while, but it was like I was paralyzed. I couldn’t do anything about it. I felt like a damn vegetable.” 

Ryan’s gaze softens and he tentatively reaches out and presses a hand on Shane’s. The contact startles Shane and he yanks back, only to apologize a moment later.

Ryan shakes his head. “It’s okay.” Because Ryan understood that this was a traumatic experience for Shane and even though he could never fully understand the extent of it, he knew it would take a while to heal from it, and that was okay. Ryan was a patient guy. He smiled at Shane and for the first time, Shane smiled back.

A week later, his story was printed on the newspaper with a picture of him from back when he worked at Buzzfeed. It was on the front page and extremely hard to avoid. 

More people wanted to talk to him about what happened, but he refused every question. There was no way Shane was about to talk anymore about it. He told every single person that questioned him that they had the story in front of him and that was all they were going to get. 

He didn’t have another incident with his dreams. In fact, he didn’t really dream much at all. It was nice. For the first time in a long time, he felt relief. 

A week after the newspaper was out, it seemed to have blown over and Shane was called up by Buzzfeed, much to his delight. They wanted to know if he wanted his job back. Shane didn’t question it, but he had a feeling that Ryan had something to do with it.

“So…I was thinking about us just working on True Crime instead of….doing the Supernatural stuff.” Ryan said, swinging his chair to look at Shane. Ryan had informed him a few days after he’d moved in that Unsolved had been put on hold for the time being – because Ryan didn’t want to do it without his partner in crime.

Shane swore his heart almost leaped out of his chest. He was _touched_.

When Shane came back, the producers gave Ryan the okay to begin shooting again, but Ryan didn’t want to go forward unless Shane was down.

Shane gives Ryan a curt nod. “Uh, yeah, True Crime works great for me.” Considering all he’s been through, doing anything remotely close to the Supernatural was a little terrifying. Both Ryan and Shane discussed what they would tell fans once they got the show back and decided that they just didn’t have the funds at the moment to shoot anywhere.

They hoped they would buy it.

Everything seemed to be getting better and Shane was able to relax. He felt relief, like he could finally move on from his traumatic experience.

The moment that thought passed through his mind, he could have sworn he saw a dark shadow in the corner of his eye. When he turned to look, there was nothing there.

“Do you want to go out tonight?” Ryan’s voice pulled him back to reality. He swiveled his chair to look at him. They both had their own projects to work on – Shane was trying to get Ruining History back on its feet, but the absence of Sara was still very prominent and he realized with a pang of sadness that he _missed_ her.

He nodded at the request. “Yeah.” A pause. “Just us, right?” He’s been invited all week to join their coworkers out for drinks and the prospect scared the living shit out of him. He thinks that maybe, right now, he can only handle Ryan – he had a feeling it was because Ryan understood, on some level, of what Shane went through, but there was potentially more to it than that – something Shane didn’t want to address yet.

Ryan gives him a look, but he softens when he notices the anxiety written all over Shane’s face and he nods back. “Yeah, just us.” 

And it’s a relief. 

He may spend every waking moment in Ryan’s presence, but Shane found that he didn’t want anyone else. He just wanted _Ryan_.

He blinks at his own thoughts and shakes his head. He _really_ doesn’t want to address that and turns back to his computer. It’s better to ignore the problem; eventually, maybe, it’ll go away.

The rest of the day fashions itself in a blur. The shadow doesn’t reappear and Shane is able to relax and get work done. He sent in his script for the first new episode of Ruining History to the producer and for the first time since he returned, he felt accomplished. It was a nice feeling.

Shane and Ryan finish at about the same time and head off together. Shane doesn’t miss the glance that Quinta sends them. He chooses to ignore it and allows Ryan to lead the way – he’s been doing that a lot, lately. 

“Should we order take out or go out for dinner before we go to the bar?” Ryan asks on the way back to the apartment. 

It’s a fair question and Shane hums in thought. “We could…. Just eat there, you know, like normal people.” Ryan rolls his eyes at him, a fond smile on his face. Shane mimics the smile. 

“Whatever. Guess we can leave at about seven o’clock then?”

Shane shrugs. “Let’s live dangerously. Let’s leave at six.” 

They got off at five o’clock almost every day and by the time they got back to Ryan’s apartment, it was already fifteen after. Ryan met Shane in the middle and they agreed on six thirty instead. That was one hundred percent fine with Shane. 

It gave them enough time to each have a shower and get ready.

Ryan called for the shower first and Shane lounged around the apartment, clicking on the first thing he sees – _Forensic Files_. He’s halfway through the episode when Ryan gets out of the shower and yells at him to take his turn.

“In a minute!” He calls back. “I want to see who the killer is!” That, of course, sparks Ryan’s interest and here he comes down the hall, bare chest and towel wrapped around his torso. His hair was slicked back with water and there were droplets dripping down his face. It caught Shane’s attention fairly quickly.

If he openly gaped at him, Ryan (thankfully) didn’t say anything.

“What are you watching?” Ryan asked, tilting his head to the side.

Shane quickly adverted his gaze and turned back to the television, pointing with his index finger. “Forensic Files. They’re about to do some DNA samples from the blood on the scene.” He sneaks a glance at Ryan, whose eyes are now on the television, and risks taking in the view.

He’s apparently so distracted with looking at Ryan, that he doesn’t realize Ryan’s attention had turned back to him. It isn’t until Shane’s eyes are trailing upwards does he finally catch Ryan’s eyes. _Fuck_ , Shane cursed himself – so much for discreet. His face flushes and he turns away quickly.

Ryan, once again, doesn’t say anything, though Shane can definitely feel his eyes on him.

“Who do you think it is?” Ryan asks after a beat. Shane can _hear_ that smirk on his face. His face reddens even more – if at all possible.

“Boyfriend,” he says slowly, chancing a glance back at Ryan. “He was the last person to see her alive. I think it was an act of jealousy.”

“Jealousy?”

“Yeah. One of the her friends said that he was suspicious of her and her best friend, that they were hooking up behind his back.”

Ryan nods. “You’re probably right then.” A pause. “Now get your ass in the shower. I’ll pause it and you can watch it later.”

Shane knows when he’s dismissed and quickly jumps off the couch and retires to the bathroom. He may or may not look back at Ryan as he does so and barely just avoids hitting the wall on the way there. 

He takes a quick shower and when he’s done, he opens the door, just a hair, towel wrapped around his waist, scanning the hallway to see where Ryan was. He didn’t hear him or see him, so he declared it safe enough to retreat back to his bedroom. Once there, he quietly closes the door and presses his forehead against it, cursing himself.

Perhaps he _should_ start addressing _that_.

He shakes his head and pulls away from the bedroom door and stares back into the closet. He kicks his converse to the side and finds his green and black flannel and a pair of dark blue jeans. He grabs a pair of boxers from his dresser and gets dressed as quickly as possible. He decides to wear his ghoul killing boots again.

Shane returns to the bathroom after he’s dressed and fixes his hair. In the corner of his eye, he swears he can see a shadow, but when he spins around, there’s nothing there – except the towel rack, in which he runs right into. 

“Jesus Christ!” He groans and stumbles backwards. He really needs to stop chasing after shadows. 

He’s rubbing his face as he heads to the living room. Ryan was waiting there, standing at the foot of the couch.

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked, gesturing with his hands. “I heard a loud noise.”

Shane snorts. “It was probably just the ghosts that haunt your apartment, Ryan.” 

Ryan gives him a stern look and Shane laughs, holding up his hands in surrender. “I ran into the fucking towel rack.”

That makes Ryan laugh, rolling his eyes. “You fucking Sasquatch.”

The banter is familiar and it warms Shane’s heart. It took Ryan a little while to become fully comfortable with Shane again, but it was damn worth it. They were smiling at each other like a couple of goons.

Ryan clears his throat. “Anyway, we should go.” 

Shane gives him a curt nod and they’re off. Ryan had signaled for an Uber to take them to the bar – clearly not knowing just how smashed they were going to get. 

“You really need to invest in a new phone,” Ryan said as they climb into the car. Shane just laughs and agrees.

Once they arrive at the bar, Shane’s anxiety comes full swing and for the first time, it was _Shane_ that was clinging to _Ryan_. Anyone who looked at them would determine that they were almost quite literally, attached to the hip. That’s how close Shane was to him.

Ryan noticed this as they sat at a table, Shane reluctantly sitting across from him. “You okay, Big Guy?” Ryan asked, his voice soft.

Shane smiled hesitantly and nodded. “Yeah…I will be.” 

Ryan raises an eyebrow at him, but he doesn’t prod.

When the server arrives at their table, they both order a drink – Shane ended up ordering the first drink he saw, which was a large pink margarita, that was comparable in size to his head. 

“It’s _that_ kind of night?” Ryan asked as the woman left and Shane grimaced.

When the server came back with their drinks, they decided to order an appetizer – some nachos. She disappeared again to give the order to the chef. They decided they would just eat on appetizers all night, instead of an actual meal. It was supposed to be a fun night and _dammit_ that’s what it’s gonna be.

And it _was_ a fun night. Shane’s anxiety finally quelled halfway through his pink drink and he was able to enjoy himself. Ryan’s smile was definitely the best part of the night.

At about nine o’clock, they abandoned their table and sat next to each other at the bar. There, they would order more drinks and ignore the rest of the world around them. Although Shane has had a lot of Ryan’s undivided attention these past few weeks since he returned, he never got tired of it. He was realizing with each drink he took, that this was beyond friendship and it not only terrified the living hell out of him, but it also gave him a hint of a thrill that only one thing had ever given him.

It was intoxicating. 

Ryan knew how Shane was when he was drunk – he was flirtatious, handsy, and an all around charmer, but usually, he had Sara to hold the reigns and keep him down. Without Sara, Shane’s gaze was pinned on Ryan. Shane _missed_ Sara, he did, but he knew that even if he hadn’t disappeared, things would have still ended the way it did. Of course, tonight, Shane didn’t give himself any time to brood. All he was about tonight was _Ryan_ and if the flush on Ryan’s face was anything to go by, the latter knew just as well. 

Shane would never be so bold if he were sober. Drunk Shane was a whole other person. He leaned towards Ryan and placed his hand on his thigh, wiggling his eyebrows in his direction. The blush hasn’t abandoned Ryan’s face all evening and it was _thrilling_ to Shane, because _he_ was the one that put it there.

When his hand slowly, teasingly, began to slid upwards, Ryan finally reacted by jumping off the stool and grabbing Shane’s hand. “Okay, buddy, let’s take you home.”

Shane laughed and let Ryan pull him off the stool, stumbling as he did so. Yeah, okay, maybe Shane was _a little_ drunk. He grinned and followed Ryan after he’d paid the nice bartender and led Shane away. As they stood outside, Ryan contacted an Uber to pick them up.

Ryan wasn’t nearly as drunk as Shane – actually, Shane didn’t even think Ryan had more than two drinks. That was highly disappointing, but he supposed _someone_ had to be responsible and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Shane.

When the Uber arrived, they climbed into the backseat and Shane cornered Ryan, backing him up against the door. Ryan’s face was still very red and he lightly pushed Shane back into his side of the car. “Shane,” it was a warning, and like a petulant child, Shane retreated with a pout on his lips.

The Uber dropped them off – Shane doesn’t remember the driver’s name – and up to the apartment they went. As soon as they reached Ryan’s door, Shane backed him up against it again. He could see Ryan’s eyes widen ever so slightly and felt the tremor in his voice as he spoke, “Shane, we have to go inside.”

Shane nodded, licking at his lips as he backed off to let Ryan open the door. He followed him inside almost immediately and once the door was closed, Shane grabbed Ryan by the front of his clothes and brought their bodies together and kissed him.

_Finally_.

At first, Ryan responded fairly eagerly and it pleased Shane, humming against his lips. However, when Shane pressed his tongue against Ryan’s mouth, Ryan retreated, leaving an exasperated Shane to stand there and stare at him.

“You’re drunk,” Ryan told him.

Shane nodded in agreement. “And?”

“You should go to bed.”

Shane frowned and took a step towards Ryan, only to have Ryan take a step backwards. “Ry…”

Ryan shook his head. “Go to bed, Shane.”

Shane sighed loudly, dramatically, and nodded as he slumped his shoulders and headed back to his bedroom. He glanced back at Ryan who was still standing in front of the door. He was touching his lips.

The sight made him smile and opened the door to his bedroom. The smile fell from his lips when he noticed blood smeared all across the walls. He stepped forward, pressing his hand against the blood and pulled back to smell it – just in case. When he stepped backwards, wiping his hands on his pants, he realized that the blood spelled something.

_He’s dead_ , it said, and reality finally sunk in.

Shane screamed and backed himself up out of the door, only to have an arm reach out and touch his shoulder.

He spun around and swore he saw red eyes staring back at him. This only furthered his terror and spun back around, trying to escape the hand that had touched him. He tripped over something on the floor – probably clothes or something he’d left there – and fell face first into the ground, knocking him out cold.

At the doorway, there stood Ryan, confusion and fear, even worry, written all across his face. Whatever had freaked Shane out, Ryan couldn’t seem to figure it out – there was nothing there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmmm... what do YOU think is going on with Shane? This is probably my favorite chapter to write thus far, because there's so much going on. I hope you enjoy it, too.~


	5. Believer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is definitely a lot darker than the others so fair warning. Also, gotta do a call out post for Void!Stiles from Teen Wolf for inspiring the ending scene. Enjoy.~

_Brown eyes open wide as Shane glances around him. He’s in a dark room and he can barely see five feet in front of him. “Hello?” He calls, looking down at his feet as he attempts to make his way across the room. He can’t find the walls though, no matter how far he pushes himself to the side. “Is anyone there?”  
_

_Suddenly, a light appears at the very end of the long room – hallway? -- and Shane finds himself sprinting towards it. “Hello!?” He calls loudly, tripping over his own feet momentarily before getting back up and continuing on his way towards the light. When he reaches the light, he’s blinded. He screws his eyes shut tightly until the light dims and he reopens them to find a man sitting in a chair._

__He kind of looks like Ryan… _Shane thought, gulping down the fear that he felt creeping in._

_“Isn’t he pretty?” A voice behind him startles Shane and he spins around to see dark red hues staring back at him._

_Shane takes a step backward, but the shadow grabs his arm and pulls forward, towards the young man. The closer they get, the more details seem to point out at him. The young man is wearing a gag; his dark brown eyes brimmed with tears._

_He looks startling like Ryan, almost like a mirror image, if it wasn’t for the mole on his cheek or the freckles splattered over his nose; his hair was even a tad lighter than Ryan’s. Otherwise…otherwise this young man could almost be Ryan’s twin._

_“What are you doing to him?” Shane demands, spinning around to face the shadow._

_A Cheshire smile pulls across the demon’s lips and he laughs maniacally._

_“Me?” The demon purred. “What are_ you _doing to him?”_

_The demon pulls at his arm and Shane looks down. He’s holding a knife and it’s covered in blood. Shane slowly looks up and gags when he sees the young man’s throat was slit, eyes bulging from their sockets._

_The knife clatters to the ground and Shane screams, turning tail and running._

_Maniacal laughter follows him._

Shane wakes with a gasp, inhaling sharply as he struggles with the face of reality. When he awakens, he tries to get up, only to be yanked back by the IV in his arm. His nostrils flare, his eyes wide and alert as he yanks back, trying to pull the IV from his arm.

This apparently alerts the nurse staff and he’s ushered back down with gentle words, but Shane isn’t listening.

“Where’s Ryan?” He demands, his eyes still wide even after he’s settled back into the bed. “Where is he!?” 

The nurse tells him quietly that Ryan went to the cafeteria while he was being treated in the ER. He would be returning shortly.

They give him some drugs through his IV. He grimaces as he watches it flow towards his bloodstream. The nurse explains to him that he had hit his head pretty hard and that Ryan had been worried about his wellbeing. Which…is probably why they’re giving him drugs.

He falls asleep again, eyes fighting the whole way through.

He has another nightmare – no, another _memory_ , he’s certain that’s what it was – of the demon possessing him. It was terrifying, but nothing could ever compare to the memory of killing someone who looked so much like Ryan…it made Shane feel sick. 

_”Awww, is Shane in love with the little believer?” A demonic voice laughs and Shane spins around to see himself with bloodshot eyes staring back at him. There’s a smirk on his lips as he leans across the wall, eyebrows raised._

_Shane grows defensive, his fists curling in on themselves. “You leave him alone!” He spat back, grinding his teeth together._

_“Hmmm, I don’t think so. It’s fun watching you_ squirm _.” The demon laughs, taking a step forward. He touches Shane’s jaw, drawing his fingers across the stubble on his cheek. Shane inhales sharply at the cool touch._

_“I told you we weren’t done, Shane.” The demon continued, puckering his bottom lip into a pout. “Did you really think I would let you go that easy?”_

_Shane didn’t reply. He couldn’t think as the demon wrapped his other hand around his throat, pressing against his adam’s apple. Shane lets out a strangled noise – halfway between a sob and a moan._

_The demon releases his hold on Shane and just as Shane is about to reach after it, he finds himself shut up in a cell in his own mind. The room is completely dark, except a small window in the middle of the wall. Shane walks towards it and places his hands against the tinted frame and gasps what he sees and begins to pound his fists against the walls, screaming._

_It’s Ryan._

__Eyes drift open as the demon sits up in bed. Ryan is standing there, looking hesitant as he approaches. The demon cocks his head to the side and throws what he thinks is a gentle smile in his direction.

“Hey, Ry,” his voice is smooth, albeit sluggish from the drugs his host has endured.

_“Don’t you touch him!”_

_Now, now, Shane, this is just part of the game. Be patient._

Ryan smiles as he pressed his hand at the back of his head in an awkward manner. “How…how are you?” 

The demon shrugs. “I’ve never been better.”

Ryan opens his mouth to object, but is interrupted as a nurse walks through the door. “Hello, Mr. Madej! I’m your nurse, Samantha. How are you feeling?”

The demon suppresses the urge to roll his eyes. “I don’t know, honestly. I’m a little loopy.”

The nurse – Samantha – chuckles, writing something down on her clipboard. “Yeah, drugs will do that to you. I have some paperwork for you to sign and then we’ll get that IV out of ya and let you go home.”

Ryan frowns and speaks before the demon has a chance to. “Go home?” He repeats. “Don’t you think we should be addressing some issues here? Like possible post traumatic?”

Ah, Ryan, always so considerate.

_“Leave him alone!”_

The demon ignores the voice in his head and smiles at Ryan. “Ry, I just drank too much. I’m okay, I promise.”

Ryan looks skeptical, but doesn’t argue as the nurse comes around and takes the IV out of his arm. Once done, she places a swab over the spot, taping it down before handing him the paperwork to release him back into Ryan’s custody. 

Once they leave the hospital, Ryan’s still looking at the demon, watching his every move. Naturally, the demon would be on the defense, but he’s also quite aware that Ryan watches Shane a lot anyways. 

_Pathetic_ , it thinks. _Humans and their concept of love._

A pause.

_Hey Shane, watch this._

The demon turns towards Ryan, grabbing him by the arm to stop him. They’re just standing out in front of Ryan’s car. Ryan looks a little startled but smiles softly when the demon pushes him against the door and presses his lips to his. 

Ryan is _very_ compliant and it makes the demon grin.

_“Stop!”_

Shane isn’t enjoying this at all and the demon chuckles against the human’s lips, tasting him, _indulging_. 

When Ryan pulls back to breathe, his face is flushed and his eyes become dilated, the brown in his eyes almost extinct at this point. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Ryan whispered, canting his head up to look at the demon, eyes searching for something. 

The demon nods. “Uh, yeah – I think I just freaked myself out. I’m fine, though, I promise.”

Ryan gives him a curt nod and pushes the demon out of the way. “Get in, we’re going home.”

The demon flashes him a grin and opens the passenger door.

It seems to the demon that Ryan doesn’t suspect a thing. He curls up next to him on the couch, pressing his hand down next to his, close enough to where their pinkies touch. It’s an interesting thing… Shane had been in love with Ryan for _years_ , yet had never gathered the courage to make something out of it. Too afraid he’d ruin something good. Perhaps…perhaps that’s why Ryan was so cautious now; he didn’t want to _scare_ Shane away.

If he was human, the demon would find it _endearing_. Unfortunately, he isn’t human, and he finds it rather annoying. 

He’d much rather kill the pathetic human and get it over with, but he was enjoying the distress Shane was going through. He had done terrible things in Shane’s body, but _this_ really topped the cake. Sure, Shane had sobbed and sobbed for _hours_ after he’d killed the young man that looked like Ryan, but it was never as extreme as this. 

There’s a reason the demon became infatuated with the man – he didn’t _care_ about anyone, not really. He thinks that if Shane had been given the right push, he would have become an infamous murderer in his time. He was damn near close to a sociopath, except for one little thing.

_Ryan_.

The demon’s eyes caught Ryan’s and his lips pulled upwards into a smile.

_It’s always been about Ryan, hasn’t it, Shane?_ He cocked his head to the side and leaned forward to press a kiss to the human’s cheek, enjoying the flush that appeared where his lips had been when he pulls away.

Shane doesn’t respond. The demon finds that disappointing, so he does what any good demon does. He pulls Ryan into his lap and kisses him, just to see how Shane would react.  


Ryan is absolutely _thrilled_ by the change and it makes the demon grin against his lips, pulling him down to press against his body.

He did this with Lucy, too, but the woman had never been nearly as eager as Ryan is, and the demon decides to push it one step further. He pushes his hands under Ryan’s shirt, trailing his fingers across his abs. Ryan shivers above him and he grins into the kiss.

_He sure does like you, Shane,_ the demon thinks, tilting his head up to deepen the kiss. 

Shane’s back to pounding his fists against the wall, screaming at him to _please, stop_. It only furthers the game and the demon pulls at the hem of Ryan’s shirt and with the help of the human himself, the shirt is discarded and thrown across the room. It’s only then does the demon notice the toy gun on his side and stops kissing Ryan long enough to nudge at it with his hand.

“What’s this?” He asks, opening his eyes to look at Ryan and down to the gun.

“It’s my demon killing gun,” Ryan replies instantly, sitting back on his hunches.

“Oh?”

Ryan gives him a look and takes the gun off the holster, holding it firmly in his hand. “Yeah, you remember? I was going to use it on the Goatman.” He pauses, watching the demon expectantly, pointing the toy gun at the demon. When he doesn't react, Ryan sighs and lowers it. “Let me go put this stuff away and then…then we can get back to that.” He motions towards the demon with a grin.

The demon grins back and nods, watching as Ryan disappears down the hallway. While he waits, the demon grabs the remote for the TV and flicks it on. He finds the episode of _Forensic Files_ that Shane had been watching and pressed play.

“I’m going to get some water, do you want some?” Ryan calls, assumingly from the kitchen.

“Sure!”

Ryan comes back a few minutes later, holding up a glass of water towards the demon. It doesn’t go unnoticed that Ryan doesn’t have a glass himself, but he chooses to ignore that factor. There’s a smile on Ryan’s lips, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. The demon considers what that means before taking the glass from him. 

That’s when the demon notices the very real gun that Ryan is holding in trembling fingers. The demon slowly looks up at Ryan, noting that there isn’t a flicker of expression on his face.

“Ryan? Why do you have a gun?” He asks quietly, placing the glass down on the table and standing up. 

Ryan takes a hesitant step backwards.

The demon cocks his head to the side. “Ry?”

“Drink the water, Shane, and then I’ll tell you why I have a gun.”

The demon glances from Ryan to the glass and back again. “What’s going on?” He didn’t account for this. Did Ryan _know_?

_Impossible. He’s just a silly human._

_“Silly, yes, but you were forgot about one thing, you demon fuck. He’s a believer.”_

The demon hums and picks up the glass of water. He presses the glass to his lips, but doesn’t take a drink, watching Ryan. “What’s in it?” He asks. “Are you trying to drug me?”

Ryan forces out a laugh and this time he pulls the gun out and holds it in front of the demon. There are tears brimming at the corners of his eyes. “I want you to drink it and prove me wrong. That I’m just being a paranoid idiot. Please, Shane. Drink the water.”

“You’re always a paranoid idiot,” the demon smirks, though he’s staring at the barrel of the gun. “Where did you even _get_ a gun, Ry?”

Ryan shook his head. “It doesn’t fucking matter, Shane. Drink the goddamn water and _prove me wrong_.”

The demon sighed and took in a whiff of the water and instantly pulled back from the scent. “Is…did you put _holy water_ in this?” 

“You’re not Shane….are you?” The gun trembles in his hand but the demon has to give Ryan props as he takes a step towards the demon until the gun is pressed against his forehead. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’ve heard of BDSM, but this seems a little extreme.” The demon teased, eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. He really didn’t expect this from the human, but then as he rakes through memories and memories that Shane has of him, he supposes he shouldn’t be that surprised. Ryan may be an idiot, but Shane was right, he’s a believer. 

Ryan doesn’t respond, his hand still shaking, but he doesn’t loosen his grip.

Carefully, the demon grabs the gun, eyes watching Ryan, unblinking, as he pushes it away slowly. “Ryan…you’re starting to scare me.”

Ryan makes a sound, close to a guffaw, at that, and he rolls his eyes in mock amusement. “Me? Scare _you_?”

The demon huffs and takes another step forward as Ryan takes one back. He’s staring at the demon, eyes hard and fearful, but he clearly isn’t backing down. It was amusing to the demon, because Ryan _actually_ believed he could win.

“Ryan, Ryan…Ryan,” the demon tsked as he finally got close enough to snatch the gun away from him. He could have taken it a long time ago, but this was fun. He expected to see fear reflecting in Ryan’s eyes as he backed him against the wall. He expected to see him sweat, to hear him scream – and yet, Ryan was _smiling_. The demon took another step forward and another until he could no longer move. Confused, the demon looked down at his feet.

He’s standing in the middle of a salt circle.

How did he manage to miss that?

He slowly looked back up at Ryan and finally laughs.

“Score one for Ol’ Ryan Bergara! You sure got me good!” The demon’s voice mimics Shane’s, taking in another aspect of his personality. He points the gun at Ryan and grins. “You know, you may have me trapped here, but I still have the gun.” _I can still kill you_ , goes unsaid. 

Ryan shakes his head and takes a step forward and surprises the demon when he socks him in the jaw. The demon stumbles, though unable to leave the circle. During his fall, the gun clattered to the floor and Ryan immediately picked it up. 

The demon stood up slowly, wiping at his legs as he watches the human. The anger outweighs the fear. “You’ve known this entire time, haven’t you?” He questions, raising an eyebrow at Ryan.

Ryan nods his head, back to aiming the gun at his forehead. “I guessed. I mean, I think Shane was there for a while, but you… I think you made him go away. Didn’t you?”

The demon shrugs. He has nothing else to lose at this point. “It’s all part of the game, Ry.”

Ryan takes a step forward, gritting his teeth and allows the barrel of the gun to lay flat on the demon’s forehead again.

“You need to leave.”

“Hm, I don’t think so. This is _fun_. Lucy wasn’t nearly this exciting, you know. She didn’t put up much of a fight, but then, I don’t think she really loved Clayborn the way you love Shane.”

The butt of the gun smacks him in the head and he just laughs, stumbling again. “You know, you’re going to give Shane a hell of a headache later, considering he already has a concussion.”

Ryan hesitates for a moment, licking at his lips before going back to pointing the gun at him. “Shut the fuck up.”

“What are you gonna do, Ry? _Shoot me_?” The demon cooed, eyes flashing a deep red before back to Shane’s natural brown.

Shane is having an absolute _fit_ inside his head, but he’s tuned him out for the time being. The demon is having too much fun.

Ryan responds by cocking the gun back. If Ryan wanted to, right now, he could shoot him point blank – not that it would matter. A gun can’t _kill_ a demon, but it sure can kill the host.

“What are you waiting for?” The demon spat. “Shoot me!” His voice raises, a demonic growl pressing past clenched teeth. “ _Shoot me!_ ”


	6. I Can Feel Your Halo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! Here is the last chapter! I hope you enjoy and thank you for being with me till the end. Comments and kudos are always appreciated!

The demon can see Ryan’s hand shaking as he holds the gun up at him. He looks terrified but determined and the demon’s lips pull into a malicious grin. Just when the demon was expecting the gun to go off, just when he was expecting Ryan to pull the trigger, the gun is shoved back into the holster and the squirt gun was back in Ryan’s hands.

The demon _tsked_ at him. “Oh come  _on_ , Ryan! You’re not being creative enough!” He was… _disappointed_ to say at the least.

Ryan set his jaw and shot daggers in the demon’s direction, which amused the demon very much. Before the demon could say another word, the man in front of him shot off the squirt gun into his face and the demon immediately hissed back as his skin began to sizzle.

“HOLY WATER!?” It spat, eyes flashing between red and Shane’s natural hue. His host’s skin itched from the burn and the demon placed a hand over where Ryan had shot him, just below the eye.

_“Did you really think Ryan wasn’t prepared?”_

The demon ignored Shane’s annoying voice in the back of his head. The holy water was distracting enough to give Shane more freedom in his own head – he was beginning to break through the barriers the demon had so carefully constructed.

Ryan took a step closer to the demon, wincing when he saw the flesh on his skin still burning. Shane probably wasn’t going to appreciate that when he came to. Unfortunately, Ryan probably didn’t think much on it, because a moment later, he was shooting the holy water at the demon again; this time at his chest.

The demon stumbled backwards again, though he was constrained to the circle of salt surrounding him. He had nowhere to go and no way  to really defend himself – the salt circle drained him, so any special ability was rendered useless. So unless he found a way to break the salt circle, the demon was 100% stuck and to Ryan Bergara’s mercy. Of course, the demon wasn't about to give up. He stood his ground and bared his teeth, demonic canines poking through the human’s gums. It got the reaction the demon was hoping for.

Ryan startled, eyes widening, but unfortunately for the demon, it didn’t change his stance.

“Give him back,” Ryan demanded, holding the gun at the demon with a furious look on his face. His hands trembled slightly, but otherwise, he appeared pretty steady.

“Hmmm…” The demon pretended to ponder this. “How about… _no_?”

Ryan shot another wisp of holy water at the demon, who miraculously managed to dodge the attack this time.

“Give him back!” Ryan’s voice boomed loud and clear. His hands were no longer trembling. It appeared to the demon that, in order to stay calm in such a situation as this, Ryan was channeling one of his own creations – perhaps Ricky Goldsworth? – and it sparked an interest in the demon.

( After scouring Shane’s thoughts, it was found that Shane kept quite a bit of memories of Ryan with him. _What a sap_. )

Perhaps he picked the wrong host, after all.

_“You can’t fucking touch him, don’t even try.”_ Shane’s voice was getting louder and this brought the demon to a screeching halt. He couldn’t abandon ship – the salt circle would make sure of that – but the longer he got attacked, the more control he lost. Suddenly, the demon realized that he was losing at his own game.

_“You shouldn’t have fucked with the ghoul boys, man.”_

The demon snorts, snapping his jaw closed as red eyes glared at the human in front of him.

“I’m going to keep shooting you with this until you let him go.” Ryan said, taking a brave step closer, yet never getting close enough to smudge the circle.

The demon hummed, watching Ryan curiously – hungrily. “You know…even if I let him go, which I won’t, do you really think he’s going to want you the way _I_  want you? After all, that was _all me_ , baby, on that couch. Shane had no say in that, whatsoever.” The demon was insatiable; always hungry for more.

Shane was screaming at him to _shut the fuck up_ , but the demon just smirked.

Fear flickered across Ryan’s eyes, yet the human shook his head fiercely and while the demon was watching him, though completely unaware, shot him again with the squirt gun.

The demon reeled back and hissed loudly. Once he’d regained control, he spat blood from his host’s mouth. Ryan had gotten him in the mouth this time – the demon was lucky it was closed or that would have burned all the way down.

“Why did you put the real gun away?” The demon asks, eyeing the holster on Ryan’s pants. “Why don’t you just shoot me and get it over with?”

Ryan glared. “It was a _distraction_. I know that you being a supernatural being, a real gun won’t hurt you. It would hurt Shane, and only Shane, and I don’t plan on killing him any time soon.”

The demon scoffed. “So what are you going to do? Keeping burning me with holy water? That doesn’t kill a demon, dumbass.” He smirked then, thinking perhaps it had won this round.

But Ryan was one step ahead of him.

He pulled a bible from his pack pocket and held it out to him to show the demon what it was. The demon retracted immediately, mumbling curses in an unintelligible language.

“Did you really think I was that stupid?” Ryan said, arching an eyebrow at the demon, who, for once, actually looked a little bit terrified. “I knew something was wrong the moment Shane said he couldn’t remember anything and him lying so smoothly to police officers? Have you _met_  Shane? He may think he’s a good liar,  _but he isn’t that good_.” Ryan opened up the bible, watching the demon as he does so.

“Father Thomas gave me some pointers on this, showed me what to do if I ever needed to use it, and guess what, demon? You’re about to get exorcised and sent right back to Hell.”

The demon snarled, sharp horns pulling from the crevice of Shane’s forehead. He knew that if Ryan got this right, he would be done for – he may have underestimated him, just a little bit.

Shane snorts in his head. _“A little bit? Man, Ryan knows what he’s doing. He may be crazy, but he’s a fucking genius.”_

Before the demon can even respond, Ryan had apparently found the page he’d been looking for because he began to chant some incantations and almost immediately, the demon felt the weight of the words. Blood began to pour from his host’s nose and screams of pain began to fill the room. The screams were so loud that the walls began to shake and items began to fall off counters and shelves. Pictures on the wall crashed to the ground and the TV was yanked from the cord, glass shattering from the screen as it fell.

The demon collapsed onto all fours, shaking his host’s head – too fast for a human. Shane’s body shifted from demonic to human as the human fought for control – yet, even Shane was weakened by the incantations, his own screams echoed inside his head.

Then, suddenly, Ryan stopped, head tilted to the side as the demon slowly looked up at him, panting – confused.

Ryan just grinned, aimed his toy gun at Shane’s head and fired off another spew of holy water. “Time to go night night, demon.” And with that, Ryan finished off the last incantations, grinding his teeth from the echoing screams all around him.

Once finished, the demon looked at him with crossed, angry eyes, and spat, “This isn't over,” before Shane began to up heave black and purple smoke and nasty black and red mucus; it was like tar. The demon had left the building.

When Shane finally came to, and the demon was gone, he grimaced and gazed up at Ryan. His whole body was trembling, yet Shane managed a very soft smile, noting an interesting apparition behind him. It looked as if Ryan had wings and a halo.“You’re an angel, Ryan Bergara.” He whispered before promptly passing out.

**& &**

“Shane! Wake up! We’re here!”

Ryan’s voice stirred Shane from where he’d fallen asleep in the car, cheek pressed against the window. He opened his eyes and winced at the glare of the sun before turning to look at Ryan, who was already climbing out of the car. Shane rolled his eyes before stretching and climbing out after him.

“Where are we again?” Shane asked, tilting his head at Ryan once the car door was closed.

“Clayborn Mansion – the father had murdered an entire slave family.”

Shane blinked, something like déjà vu picking at the back of his brain, but he shrugged it off and followed Ryan up the driveway. It wasn’t until they got about five feet in front of the door did Shane stop, his breath hitching in his throat.

Ryan didn’t notice until he was almost to the door, finally taking note that Shane wasn’t with him. When he turned back to look at Shane, something was obviously amiss.

“Shane? What’s wrong?”

Shane went completely pale and his hands felt clammy. He couldn’t explain _why_  he was suddenly terrified, but the feeling just wouldn’t shake. Shane knew that if he walked in through those doors, something bad was going to happen.

_Shane_ … A voice called in the back of his head and Shane turned his head to where he thought he’d heard the voice, only to come up with nothing. TJ and the rest of the crew were barely just getting out of their cars.

Pursing his lips, Shane turned back to Ryan and shook his head. “I don’t think we should go in there.”

This caused Ryan to raise an eyebrow and took the few steps down to stand in front of Shane. Shane knew how he must look – he probably looked like _Ryan_  whenever he thought he saw a ghost. Shane wouldn’t blame Ryan if he made fun of him, either. All Shane knew was that he _could not_  go in there.

“Are you afraid of ghosts?” Ryan teased, but it fell flat when Shane didn’t laugh; still looking increasingly uncomfortable. Finally, Ryan sighed. “Okay, you’re starting to worry me. Why don’t you think we should go in there?”

Instead of answering the question, Shane talks around it. “I know it’s for the show and I know how much you don’t want to disappoint the fans and I know BuzzFeed paid for our gas to get here but… but Ryan, I don’t like this, and I think I’m going to get sick.” To emphasize his point, Shane pressed his palm against his stomach.

Ryan’s eyes were still firmly on Shane’s face, even when Shane drifted his eyes away. He couldn’t look Ryan in the eye – couldn’t stand the thought of Ryan calling him a _hypocrite_ , but Shane just…he couldn’t do it. He didn’t know _why_ , but he just… _couldn’t_.

A movement catches Shane’s attention and he looks up to see Ryan heading towards the crew. “Hey guys, I think we’re going to pack it up and try for a different location.” Shane couldn’t hear what TJ or the others were saying, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. I got a call from the owner and I guess the house isn’t safe. So, me and Shane are gonna drop the key off with him and head out. We can go to the other location tomorrow.”

Shane let out a sigh of relief. When Ryan returns, he offers Shane a smile. “Okay, big guy, we can go.” Shane saw the questions flashing before Ryan’s eyes, but he didn’t press them, and for that, Shane was grateful.

Giving Ryan a brief nod, they turned back to the car and just as Shane was about to clamber in, he thought he heard a loud growl coming from inside the house.

But then, he was probably just imagining things and shook his head. Once they got back in the car and were buckled up, Shane leaned forward and grasped Ryan’s hand into his. There was a soft gasp in Ryan’s direction, but Shane wasn’t looking at him, he was looking at their _hands_ , the way their fingers intertwined, and yeah, okay, they’ve never _held hands_ before, not like this, but it felt right.

“Let’s let this house be a mystery, yeah?” Shane asked as he slowly looked back up at Ryan.

There was a gentle smile on Ryan’s face – something akin to adoration in his eyes. “…yeah.”

Shane smiled and let go of Ryan’s hand, but not until he gives it a good squeeze. He sits back in his seat and nods at the crew who were already on their way out. “Alright, Ry, let’s go home.”

With that, Ryan turned the car on, and sped out of the driveway. Shane could feel Ryan’s eyes on him every once in a while as he drove and he refused to look back. As they pulled out of the manor, Shane saw an elderly man standing on the sidewalk who waved at him. It was a little unsettling, but Shane just figured the old man was just being nice, neighborly. It wasn’t until they dropped off the keys at the owner’s home and got back into the car and were on their way home, did Shane finally look at Ryan and when he did, he felt air leave his lungs.

The sunlight reflecting from the windshield gave Ryan a halo.

_Like an angel_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify on one thing that wasn't mentioned in the final draft: the reason Ryan gasps when he sees Shane's back back in Chapter Three is because there were scratches all along his back and it's also one of the reasons Ryan had began to suspect that the demon wasn't gone. One of the scratches was still bleeding. The only reason it isn't mentioned other than that is because I really didn't know how else to incorporate it? Ryan coming out and saying "YOU HAD SCRATCHES ON YOUR BACK" doesn't exactly scream "die demon, die" to me.
> 
> Also: I MADE TWO RYAN CHARACTER REFERENCES IN ONE CHAPTER. I am pleased. Ryan channeling his inner Ricky Goldsworth and Night Night Bergara to exorcise a demon? Hell yeah!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this (and the plot twist because everyone loves a good plot twist) and if you ever have any tips on progressing my writing or you just wanna chat, whatever, you can always find me on my tumblr @ shanemuhdej! <3


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